Out of Order
by IndigoMoose
Summary: River Song is wearing a mysterious ring and the Doctor is eager to investigate. His investigation leads him to Coal Hill School, but before he can locate Susan, he is distracted by a greater mystery: something is messing with History.
1. Chapter 1

EPISODE ONE

 **OUT OF ORDER**

A binging noise and a warm glow filled the quiet room where the Doctor was sitting. His back straightened at the sound.

"Being summoned," he said to himself. He hustled into the console room. "I haven't been summoned in ages! Who's summoning me?" He looked at the monitor, tapping his fingers on the edge of the control panel. "A surly River Song," he reported to no one but himself, and perhaps the Tardis, though she knew exactly who was on the monitor. The Doctor twiddled his fingers, then pushed the monitor aside. "You know," he said in a near whisper, "We don't really have to _answer_ the summons." The TARDIS lurched, throwing the Doctor off his feet. "Fine, if you insist," he said as he stood and dusted himself. "I just wish I knew what Miss River is so bothered about."

The Doctor moved to his usual post. Yet, just as he was about to yank the lever, he paused. "How is she summoning me in the first place?"

Rory and Amy stood in a softly lit hall, impatiently guarding an inconspicuous wooden door. They were dressing in matching formal attire. Rory's vest and tie and Amy's satin dress were all a shade of TARDIS blue. The TARDIS faded into being at the far end of the hall. The doors of the Tardis swung open and the Doctor stepped out nervously. His face lit up upon seeing his best mates and he rushed towards them. "Amy! Rory! I thought I would never see you again!" the Doctor swept them into a group hug. They pushed away from his embrace and attacked him with questions.

"Where were you?" one asked.

"How dare you be so late?" asked the other.

"Do you realize how long we've been waiting?"

"She's been crying," Rory said.

"You're not wearing that, are you?" Amy demanded.

The Doctor held up his hands. "But, there were Weeping Angels… you could never escape, I …" the Doctor looked at their frowning faces. "What was the last adventure we had together?"

"As our daughter would say, Spoilers," said Rory in a cool tone.

"I'm here because River summoned me," states the Doctor. "I don't know why she summoned me – and don't tell me just yet. First, I want to know how she summoned me. Where is River?"

Rory and Amy both glanced towards the wooden door. The Doctor made a step towards it, but his former travelling companions quickly moved to block his path.

"You can't go in there," insisted Amy.

"River is in there. I want to speak with River," the Doctor responded.

"You can't see her just now," said Rory. "It's bad luck."

"That's something you gotta love about River Song. Seeing her is usually bad luck. Besides, she summoned me. If now is not a good time –"

Amy interrupted, "She's really upset, Doctor. Please don't make it worse. Let Rory go in and tell her you're here. Let me find you something more appropriate to wear…"

The Doctor took ahold of Amy's shoulders, "Oh, Pond… what's all the fuss? Why have Rory announce me…" the Doctor did a quick spin and was at the door, hand on handle. "When I can announce myself!" He opened the door and in a boisterous voice called out, "River, I'm he-"

The sight of River in a long white gown zapped him of all words.

Her back was to him, but he could see in the mirror that here cheeks were still red and blotchy. The delicate lace of the gown, the dozens of little white flowers stuck into her whimsical mane of hair, there was no need to guess the occasion for which he was so ill-dressed.

"I received your summons," the Doctor said quietly. River turned her head slightly. He licked his lips and took a small step forward. "I was just wondering, well, _how_ you did it."

River turned to face him, her eyes were full of confusion. "With the ring, of course."

"What ring?"

"This ring," shouted River, thrusting her hand inches away from his nose. Wrapped around her ring finger was a highly polished metal key.

The Doctor snatched her wrist, turning her hand as he rapidly examined the shiny object. He looked up at River. "It looks like a TARDIS key, warped and welded..." He whipped his sonic screwdriver out from his pocket and prepared to scan the quirky ring. River snatched her hand away. "Where did you get it?" the Doctor demanded.

River's face turned stiff. She looked past the Doctor, through the open door, past her parents, to the blue box. "That stupid blue box," she mumbled.

"Pardon?" said the Doctor.

"I got the ring from you!" she bellowed, fighting back tears. She pushed him aside and raced straight towards the TARDIS.

"You!" she shouted at the humble time machine. "You stupid blue box! This was supposed to be my day! There's a reason I don't do weddings. I should have stuck to my guns, but you let me hope. You _made_ me hope."

"I thought we were already married," said the Doctor trying to step between River and the TARDIS. "There was the scarf and the kiss and I told you to look into my eye… I'm not saying a spoiler, am I?"

"No. That has happened," River growled, still glaring at the time machine.

"So, why this extra stuff?" asked the Doctor, wishing he had chosen different words the moment they left his lips.

River began screaming at the police box. "I thought you would play fair - not for me, but for her. Her final request was so simple. But, no! You had to take things out of order. You had to ruin things. You couldn't let him enjoy a single day without you. We can share the limelight, but never have it all to ourselves. You selfish, horrid thing!" River Song started kicking the box and shouting obscenities in Gallifreyan. Rory calmly put his arms around his screaming daughter and pulled her away. "The wedding is off!" River shouted. "I won't marry someone who hasn't proposed to me!"

The Doctor stood next to his beloved blue time machine watching the beautiful bride get dragged to the other side of the foyer, his arms hanging limply at his side.

Amy approached the Doctor and stood next to him, watching her husband employ his nurse training to calm their adult child. "You said you were popping out to get your corsage. What happened?" Amy asked in a low voice.

"That's something I do in my future, I haven't done it yet." The Doctor turned to Amy, his brow furrowed. "I'm confused, I thought River and I already got married."

"You mean on top of the pyramid in the alternate reality? That doesn't really count."

"River never struck me as one who wanted the formal event."

"Remember? It wasn't her idea to have a formal event."

"Of course it wasn't," the Doctor said. "Apparently I was the one who did the proposing; proposing with a very interesting ring. I'll need another scan to confirm, but if my suspicions are right…" The Doctor got a far-away look on his face.

Rory slowly walked back towards them. River was on the other side of the foyer, sitting on the floor, a subdued white lump glaring at the TARDIS. "Tell River I am so sorry for …" the Doctor tries to think of a way to describe his transgression, "For arriving early."

"It's okay," says Rory. "She doesn't blame you. She blames the TARDIS. She thinks you were brought here deliberately out of order."

"Oh, the TARDIS wouldn't do that," the Doctor said dismissively. He patted the side of the police box proudly. Then he stopped and turned to give the Tardis a hard look. He recoiled,"You did do it on purpose!" He quickly turned to his in-laws. "Oh! Amy, Rory, I assure you; the TARDIS is going to get one very stern lecture from me right after we go get the necessary scan." The Doctor yanked open the police box doors.

"What do you need to scan?" asked Rory.

"I have a suspicion, I need to make sure. The key that River's ring was made from… I don't want to say. I just need to make sure."

The door was shut and the TARDIS left with its usual noises, though Rory could swear he heard a twinge of guilt in the whirring sound.

**{+==]**


	2. Chapter 2

At the Coal Hill High School in Shoreditch, a middle aged woman was calmly lecturing a set of rather bored students. They dutifully took notes, as she told them about the assassination of American President Abraham Lincoln. "He was shot by a crazy man named Lee Harvey Oswald. I'll write that on the board for you…" she was saying as a man with boyish charm and a bow-tie thrust open the door.

"I am looking for one Susan Foreman," he announced.

"She is not in this class," replied the teacher, she turned back to the board and continued writing.

The man stayed in the door way, his hand still on the handle. He took a closer look at the teacher. "You're not Barbra!" he exclaimed.

"No, she teaches history in the classroom two doors down."

"Ah," said the man. "Well, sorry to have bothered you." He backed out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

The teacher resumed writing on the board. She had just finished writing the name of Lincoln's assassin when the door flew open again.

"I'm sorry to interrupt again, but did you say Lee Harvey Oswald?" asked the man in the bow tie.

"Yes," said the teacher, maintaining composure.

"Killed American President Abraham Lincoln?"

"Yes."

"Not John Wilkes Booth?"

"Please, sir, I am trying to teach a lesson. Don't confuse the children."

"But you're telling them that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Lincoln."

"That's because he did."

"Then who shot John F. Kennedy?"

"Kennedy's been shot?" the woman dropped her chalk. The children in the class grew silent.

"Wait, what is the date today?"

"November 23nd," said one of the students cheerfully.

"So, still the 22nd in America." The man in the bow tie looked over at the large clock on the wall and wiggled his fingers, quietly counting. "Yes," he answered the shocked educator's question. Then, as quickly as he had come, the man shut the door behind him.

The Doctor leaned against the wall in the hallway, faintly hearing the excited voices of the classroom he had just disturbed. He glanced towards the classroom two doors down. He murmered to himself, "President Abraham Lincoln shot by Lee Harvey Oswald." He sighed, and stood up straight. "Susan will just have to wait."

**{+==]***

In Dallas, the streets and sidewalks were filled with people eagerly preparing to watch the president's motorcade. No one noticed the two agents weaving through the crowd speaking with hushed tones into the collars of their grey turtle neck sweaters.

"Anachronism spotted at Dealy Plaza?" asked one of the agents.

"We are already on it," said the other. She saw a tall man walking briskly out of an alley containing a blue police box that was most certainly out of place for 1960s America.

The Doctor was surveying his surroundings, but before he could decide his next move, a gruff hand was on the back of his neck, fingers digging into some Gallifreyan-specific pressure points.

"Do not move and answer all of our questions truthfully," said a lulling yet frightening voice behind him.

"Who are you? How do you know the Freezing Grip?" asked the Doctor.

The grip became firmer and a thumb found yet another pressure point. The Doctor was pulled into the alley. A woman in a grey turtle neck stepped out of the shadows. "They teach the Grip the third week of training," she said. "And they teach this the fourth week." In a deft and fluid motion she cuffs the Doctor's right wrist to his left ankle and left wrist to right ankle. The Doctor looks up to see his captors. The one is a woman, her dark hair pinned back in a tight pony-tail. The other is a man with dark sunglasses. Neither would stand out in a crowd, memorable only because they appear so bland.

"Are you CIA?" asked the Doctor. "No, you can't be CIA. The whole agency was well… everyone was, you know."

"Are you referring to the Celestial Intervention Agency of Gallifrey?" inquires the man in the sunglasses.

"We're not with them," the woman said quickly. "You are being detained under suspicion of trying to save the President."

"No," said the Doctor, struggling to face his accuser. "I am here to make sure the right person shoots him."

"Scan him," the woman instructed her partner. The man pulled from a deep pocket a small device. He scanned the Doctor's palms and flashed a red light in his eyes.

"You don't understand," protested the Doctor. "I'm here to help. Someone is messing with Time. I have to stop them."

"No, Sir. We have to stop them. That's our job." Her lulling voice took on a business tone, "What does the scanner say?"

"It's still calculating," said the man in sunglasses. He shrugged his shoulders and slipped the device back into his pocket.

The Doctor tried again, "Please, John Wilkes Booth is about to shoot Kennedy –"

"Don't try to stop JFK's death," the agents said firmly.

"I'm not. I just want to find out why it isn't Oswald. Someone is messing with Time."

Both the agents let out a sigh of relief.

"No, sir," said the woman. "Someone is messing with History." She continues to explain. "Time is just fine. As long as the fixed point is unaltered -"

"Today _is_ a fixed point!" cried the Doctor.

"Let me guess," said the man with the sunglasses. He pulled out a small key and knelt down to release the Doctor from the cuffs. "You looked into the void, spent a couple decades at the Academy, think you know all about the delicate fabric of Time and Space." The Doctor sat up once he was free. The agent pushed him back down. "Listen up, Time Lord," he says. "A fixed point in Time is very small. It isn't a whole day, or even a whole minute. It is the length of time it takes a bullet to enter and exit a skull." He stood and moved to exit the alley.

"Who gets blamed matters little; who shot it even less so," said the dark haired women.

The Doctor scrambled to his feet. "Then why change the names? Why tinker in a thing so trivial yet recognizable?"

Both agents paused. They looked at each other silently. The man in the sunglasses whispered, "Could it be Dr. Song? This seems like a thing she'd do."

"She's an archeologist," replied the woman. "She wouldn't mess with personal histories."

"What about that agent of ours that went rogue? Jack Harkness?"

"Now you're just guessing random people. If someone were messing with personal histories, Brairian would have fixed it before even the savviest Time Traveling History Buff would have noticed."

"What are you suggesting?" the man with the sunglasses said, glancing back at the Doctor.

"Some _thing_ is messing with personal histories."

The Doctor perked up. "Some things are my specialty. I'm on the case."

The woman glared at the foolish man in the bow tie. "Has the scanner given a reading yet?" she asked her partner.

"Oh! I forgot all about it." He took the scanner back out of his pocket. He read it. "This can't be right." He showed his partner the scanner's read out.

"But… but he's in a bow-tie. With these levels he should have long wavy hair and a velvet coat."

"Levels of what? What's that mean?" the Doctor snatches the scanner.

The woman purses her lips. "We don't have time for this. We are supposed to be setting up at the grassy knoll."

The Doctor clutched the device. "I'm not giving it back 'til you tell me what these green lights mean."

The woman gave an exasperated sigh. "It's the pull of the Time Lock. You're not done playing a role in the Time War."

"The Time War?" the Doctor lost his grip on the scanner. The woman caught it as it fell, then rushed out of the alley.

The man removes his sunglasses and speaks gently. He gently guided the Doctor back down the alley. "Don't stress about it. Just do what you would normally do." With a gentle hand he opened the door of the TARDIS. The Doctor entered silently. The man put his sunglasses back on. "Travel with friends. Leave the protection of Time _and_ History to the professionals."

Back on the street, the woman is speaking into her collar. "This is Agent Perl recommending extra surveillance be placed on Sue and Sven."

**{+==]**


	3. Chapter 3

The Doctor was sleeping with his head against the control panel. Images flashed through his mind: a youthful Susan Foreman standing outside the TARDIS, shouting and crying for her grandfather; her key, a key to a type 40 TARDIS, tossed and landing in the dirt; a hand retrieving the key and the face David Campbell, the man Susan Foreman loved. These images are followed by a vision of Rassilon proclaiming that all traveling Time Lords must to return to Gallifrey; Rassilon sending out the Sweepers. The last vision causes the Doctor to shudder himself awake. The Doctor jerked his head left and right. He wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and the control panel. "We must have been dream sharing!" he said to his machine. "River's ring is that key. Susan's key… How do I get a hold of it?"

The Doctor paced back and forth. Then he snapped his fingers and began speaking aloud, as he always did, whether someone was there to listen or not.

"I visit the 22nd century and find David. Susan couldn't have taken the key with her, otherwise how could I get a hold of it to give to River?" He entered codes and moved levers. The TARDIS gears and lights buzzed and flashed. The Doctor went on, nearly shouting above the noise, "Susan may be gone, but David Campbell will still be there. He could tell me when Susan left, what her life was like before the Sweepers came and brought her back to Gallifrey." The Doctor paused, then quietly said, "Perhaps I'll just focus on what happened to the key."

**{+==]***

In a forest, on a night with a full moon, three young rascals gathered on the edge of a clearing. In the clearing was an old cottage. The vines covering the stone walls make it impossible to deny its age, yet it was well kept. The door of the cottage is painted royal blue with four small darkened windows at the top. "There it is," said a tall thin boy. "The house of the witch. They say she's lived there for over a hundred years, and she looked old even then."

"No way," said a chubby boy with brown hair. "That house was built way back in 2165. My grandpa told me so. There's no one living in there now."

"Then you wouldn't be afraid to go and knock on the door now, would you?" challenged the third boy.

In the cottage, an old woman was asleep. The voices of the boys taunting each other drifted through the open window above her bed, but she did not hear them. She was dreaming. In her dream she is traveling across time and space with a white haired gentleman in a dusty Edwardian suit. Her dream ends with the old man clutching his lapels as he gives her a farewell speech. "Believe me, my dear," he says, "Your future lies with David and not with a silly old buffer like me. One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back."

The a loud whirring noise awakened the old lady from her dream. She looked out her window and saw three school boys running away in fright. She pulls on a white cotton robe and moves to the door as quickly as her aged body can go.

She opened her blue door to see a large, bright white cylinder hovering gently above her front lawn. A door became visible and glided open. A small ramp slid down to the ground. Out stepped a short, scruffy looking fellow in black overalls. A sonic screwdriver and several other Gallifreyan gadgets were peeking out of his pockets.

"Sorry about the loud noise, ma'am," said the fellow. "Sounds horrible, I know. Just like a TARDIS with its parking brake on."

The old woman looked disappointed and confused. The man scratched his beard and took a fat scanning wand out of one pocket. He waved it in front of her face and chest. He checked. "First cycle, age 300." He nodded and returned the wand to his pocket. "Okay, ma'am, where's your TT capsule?"

"I... I don't have one," stammered the old woman. "I traveled here with my grandfather, almost two centuries ago. I was left behind."

"Ah, well. Come on in. I'll give you a lift back to Gallifrey." The man sauntered back up the ramp to the big white cylinder.

Susan put her hands on her hips. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I was sent by the President. Sweepers we're called. You remember the message was put out for all traveling Gallifreyans to return home and fight in the Time War -"

"Time War?"

"Ah, I guess you didn't get the message. Sent across the universe telepathically. You should've had dreams about it."

"I've been having different dreams," the woman confessed.

"No matter. Come along. The Mod-Hopper will get you back to Gallifrey no trouble. We need everyone we can get."

She entered the cylinder cautiously. "It's exactly as big on the outside as it is on the inside!" she exclaimed.

"She's exactly as big as she needs to be," said the man, shutting the door. He went to a console and began to enter codes. He mumbled to himself as he typed, "Female, 300, no repairs needed, does not own TT capsule..." He looked up at his guest. "What name do you go by?"

"Susan Campbell," answers the woman. She then corrects herself, "Just Susan."

"Would you like to take advantage of our on-board zero room for your regeneration?" asked the man, his finger hovering above the "yes" key.

"What do I need to regenerate for?" asked Susan. "My grandfather did plenty in his first cycle."

"Well, surely you're not gonna try to _fight_ in an arthritic old body like that."

"I wasn't planning on fighting. I thought I could be a nurse, you know, patch up the soldiers and unfortunate civilians..."

"Honey," said the man in the overalls, "There are no civilians. Rassilon has everyone who can launch a grenade doing something. And as far as patching up the soldiers... it's better to just let them die and regenerate."

Susan's face hardened. With a surprising amount of force, she opened the door, grabbed the man by his overalls, and tossed him outside. They were still hovering only a meter above the grassy ground, so his fall didn't hurt. She reached down and snatched the sonic screwdriver out of his front pocket, then slammed the door. The man lay on the ground looking up in bewilderment as his Mod-Hopper flew away.

The man with the black overalls got up and dusted himself off. As he pulled little bits of grass out of his blonde hair and tried to get his bearings, he heard a familiar whirring sound. To his surprise, it is not his Mod-Hopper but the infamous TT capsule he has heard so much about; the TARDIS with the broken chameleon circuit. A man in a bow-tie steps out.

"Are you David Campbell?" the Doctor asked the man in the overalls.

"No," the man answered.

"Is this the home of Susan and David Campbell?" asked the Doctor eyeing the house's blue door.

"It was," responded the man, "When David Campbell was alive. I believe it is just Susan Campbell living here now. She obviously outlived her husband by many years."

"Ah," said the Doctor. He quickly sent a glare in the TARDIS's direction. "Have you met Susan?" the Doctor asked.

"Briefly," responded the man. "I hope to see her again."

"Did you happen to notice if she was wearing a key ring?"

"Uh…" the man fiddled with his own ring of keys, "Not that I saw."

The Doctor bit his lower lip. "This investigation is not going as planned." He re-entered his traveling machine and left with the unforgettable whirring sound.

The sound becomes louder as the Tardis faded from sight. The man in black overalls saw his shadow grow large in the grass. He turned around and was relieved to see his Mod-Hopper come back. The door slides open and the face of a young woman smiled sheepishly at him. She has short brown hair with streaks of white, and she is a nightgown and cotton robe.

"Um, sorry about what I did what was it, ten minutes ago your time? Whatever. Need your help, now." She held out her hand. The man took it and crawled into the Mod-Hopper.

"I see you chose to use the zero room after all," the man said.

"No, I just died."

"Ah, sorry.".

"Not your fault. Just help me navigate."

The scruffy man closed the door to the hovering craft. "Never did tell you my name. Yours is Susan, right?" He looked around. Everything appeared to be as he left it. Susan nodded in response to his question. "They call me Sven—those who don't call me Sweeper. So, what is the trouble?"

"I keep getting the error message TMLCK."

Sven cringed. "I've missed my deadline!"

"What?"

"I was given 36 hours relative ship time for repairs and transportation. After that, Rassilon said he'd initiate the Time Lock."

"What does that mean?

"For us it means we won't be able to get back to Gallifrey."

"Sorry, I didn't know. I went looking for my grandfather."

"Your grandfather isn't the Doctor, is he?"

"Yes! Do you know him?"

The man hooked his thumbs under his overall straps. "I saw him again just now, blue police box and all."

"And I missed him! Why didn't he wait for me?"

"He seemed to be more interested in finding some fellow named David Campbell. Something about a key ring."

"He probably means this," said Susan, pulling on a thin chain around her neck. A key turned into a ring hangs on the end of the chain. "I keep it with me always, as close to my heart as I can. David made it for me. The key used to open the Tardis, and could summon it, too. I never did summon it successfully. David worried that he wrecked the key's powers by bending it. I just think the Tardis is ignoring me."

"Type 40 TT capsules can't ignore summons, can they?"

"Some have more personality than others."

"But he was here, looking around, in his post-eighth self. He lived through the Time War," Sven said, his mouth twisted and his and brow wrinkled.

"Why do you look so puzzled?" asked Susan.

"I don't get this reading over here," answered Sven. "It has the date for the 61st century," Sven said.

Susan interrupted, "Yeah, I changed the computer to use the New Byzantian calendar. I works better that way."

Sven cleared his throat. "It has a date way past the end of the Time War, and look at the coordinates."

"They are the coordinates for Gallifrey."

"Now look at the view screen."

"It's an asteroid field." Susan's eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. "Gallifrey blew up!"

"Yes," said the scruffy blonde man in black overalls. "Your grandfather, you, and I may be the only surviving Gallifreyans in the galaxy."


	4. Chapter 4

Agent Perl and Agent Weft lay on their bellies in the soft green grass, their guns loaded and pointing towards the bullivard.

"Let Brarian know we are in position," Perl said to Weft.

Weft turned his head and touched the collar of his grey turtle neck. His fingers pinch up and down the collar, he frowns.

"It's gone. It must have fallen off in the alley," Weft started to stand .

"Stay down," Perl ordered. "There is no time for you to retrieve it now. I'll call in to Brarian."

Perl sighed and spokes into her communication device.

Across the galaxy, in the 49th century of the human empire, in an inconspicuous cubicle filled with flickering monitors and humorous posters, Brarian pressed the flashing blue button to receive an incoming call.

"Perl and Weft are in position," he heard Perl say.

"Why isn't Weft calling in?" asked Brarian, his fingers posed above a key board.

"Weft's com came off in some alley," came the response.

Brarian typed in some codes. "Its current position is completely out of your Time/Space domain," he told Perl.

"The Time Lord must have picked it up!"

Weft eyes shoot wide open. "Jam the frequency. He's probably listening in right now."

Brarian was already in action; his fingers flew across the key board. He takes a new communication device out of a box and holds in up to a tube. The small device is sucked out of his hand. "I am sending a new com to your left pocket, Weft," Brarian said.

Weft rolled onto his side as a small lump developed in his pocket. He pulled out the device and quickly attached it to his collar.

"I am changing the frequency that your old com picks up. Whatever that Time Lord hears, it won't be any PEPA conversations."

**{+==]***

Susan and Sven were in the Mod-Hopper, feeling nearly weightless. The white spacecraft had landed on the largest asteroid in the zone that used to contain Gallifrey and its moons. The two suns were still visible and the silver leaves on a clump of dying trees reflect the red and yellow glow. Sven has made two wall panels of the Hopper clear. Susan gazes out of them for a long time. Sven gazes, too.

Finally, Susan spoke, "Thanks, Sven. I just had to see it for myself." She turned away from the view.

"I'm not as surprised as I thought I would be," admitted Sven. "You're lucky you were left on Earth. I mean, it was bad when I left and well, obviously, it became worse." Sven returned to his post at the console. He pressed a button and the walls slowly faded back to opaque white.

Susan frowned. "We can't be the last of the Gallifreyans," she asserted. "I can still sense them, not as strong as before, but the feeling is still there."

"Maybe it is like when you lose your leg but you can still feel your foot itching."

Susan shook her head. "Do you really believe that Rassilon got every single Time Lord and Lady to fight? Do you really think you and I are the only ones who weren't in the vicinity of that... that..." she didn't have the word for the obliteration of her homeworld, "That!" she finally said, stabbing a finger towards the fading view of the asteroid field.

Sven pursed his lips. It did feel ridiculous – fantastic, perhaps – to think that he and this lovely lady were the only survivors. "You're right," he conceded. "We avoided... that... by accident. I am sure there are some others who found a way to avoid it on purpose."

"Yes!" confirmed Susan. "And Sven, we need to find them."

"Well, we have the perfect machine for it!" Sven smiled wide. He hunched over the console, his fingers rapidly pressing the typing pad keys. "I can make the scanner even more precise." He maked several clicks on the keyboard, and turne a few dials. "There we are. Now scanning for Time War survivors – that aren't us, of course."

Susan grinned and bounced. "Don't get your hopes up," he warns. "This machine isn't as powerful as she seems. The scanner range is not stupendous."

The machine clicked, whirred, and then started pinging.

"What is the pinging?" asked Susan. "Is it good? It sounds good. Has the scanner found someone?"

Sven looked at the screen read out. "It has found two someones."

**[==+}**

In the cold and dimly lit corridors of Storm Cage, the guards stood at attention. Their ears were carefully listening for the sound of the TARDIS, the return of River Song to her rightful place behind bars. The whole thing was really just for show. Between her and the Doctor there really is no place that can hold River Song for long. She had found that having a permanent address just made it so much easier for the Doctor to find her.

The guards in Section A heard the whirring noise. They quickly moved, holding two-way radios up and letting the other sections know that the TARDIS was arriving. One of the guards slowed and shouted into his radio, "What do you mean it is in Section G?"

In Section G, the blue police box stood. A guard replied on his radio, "What do you mean she's in Section A?"

The guard in Section A was walking quickly towards the whirring sound. He answered his radio, "We heard the noise. What else could it be?" He turned the corner. He saw the rest of his squad there. They were all looking around, but no one could see anything out of the ordinary. He spoke into his radio again, "You have a visual on the prisoner?" The question is answered affirmatively. "Must have been an echo then." He clipped the radio back on his belt. "All right, men. False alarm. Go back to your posts."

As soon as all the guards have left Section A, the door to the bathroom opened. Susan stepped out, wearing a drab guard's uniform. Sven followed wearing his maintenance garb.

"Sven," Susan said quietly, "Where are we? Why did the Mod-Hopper recommend I wear this?"

Sven shrugged, "It's a place called Storm Cage. I'm thinking it is a prison."

"What? Only a few Gallifreyans left in the whole universe and two of them are in prison?"

"Not everyone uses their Time-Travelling abilities for good," Sven said. Susan folded her arms. Sven put his hand on her shoulder. "But, maybe they aren't criminals. Maybe they are guards. Let's go look for them and find out."

River Song was behind bars. The Doctor kissed her hand sweetly and stepped away. He nodded politely to the group of guards flanking either side of his TARDIS. He gave one last coy smile in the direction of River and closed the door. The TARDIS faded away with its unmistakable noise.

Just when the TARDIS is gone from view, Susan and Sven enter the corridor. They stop to catch their breath.

"We missed them!" groaned Sven.

"You know who it was we missed, don't you?" Susan asked him.

"Yeah. The Doctor. I don't know any other Time Lord that leaves his parking brake on."

"I wonder who is travelling with him," mused Susan. She shrugs. "Well, I guess the hunt is on. Back to the Mod-hopper."

"Wait," said Sven. He lowered his voice. "Don't you feel an odd sensation? Like… like one of them is still here?"

Susan paused. She glanced about, but only saw one lazy guard and this prisoner, a woman with sandy blonde curls. She mumbled, "You're right. It's odd, though."

Sven nodded. "It's like one of those scented candles; smells very real, but you know it isn't the real thing."

"Are you saying the Mod-Hopper found us a fake Gallifreyan?" Susan whispered.

"Are you looking for the Time Lord?" asked the prisoner, interrupting their conversation.

Sven steps forward, curious. " _The_ Time Lord?" he asked. "You talk as if there is only one."

"There is only one," responds the blonde woman. "He is the last of his kind."

"How did that happen?" demands Susan.

The woman gets a peculiar look upon her face, as if remembering the details hurt. "There was a war… he was the only one of his planet to survive."

"Then why do you seem Galifreyan?" queried Sven.

"I am not of his planet. I am the result of Madam Kovarian's efforts to make a Time Lady. She wanted to destroy the Doctor; she decided to fight fire with fire."

"Time Lady made to battle the last Time Lord," Susan murmured.

River Song gave a little wink. "Didn't work though. We fell in love instead."

"Will you excuse us?" said Susan. She pulled Sven off to the side. "She's crazy, right? She can't be a Time Lady. And why would anyone go to such lengths to destroy my grandfather? She doesn't know my grandfather. Perhaps this is an insane asylum and not a jail."

Sven shakes his head. He spoke softly, "Your grandfather has been through many changes since you last saw him."

"That's his fault, not mine," Susan interjected.

"He travels in a blue police box he calls the TARDIS," the woman behind bars calls out.

Sven and Susan turned.

The woman smirked, "I have your attention now, don't I?"

Susan walked up to the bars. "Tell us what you know about the Doctor," she demanded.

"Tell me what you know about other Time Lords," River Song replied.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Thank you for reading the first in what I hope will be a series of episodes. Keep an eye out for the next story: The Undying. It features my favorite antagonist, the Rani.


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